The present invention relates to the World Wide Web, and more particularly to novel and improved techniques that allow for access to the World Wide Web from wireless devices such as cellular telephones.
The World Wide Web, commonly known as the Internet, has made it possible for users to access data stored all over the world from their computers. However, these computers generally are wired to the Internet. With the growth and popularity of wireless communication, there is much interest in providing access to information on the World Wide Web from wireless devices such as cellular telephones.
A predominant direction of the telecommunication industry is to build Web browsers into wireless devices. Users are encouraged to buy these new devices for web access even though their current devices are usually otherwise quite suitable for their communication needs. The new devices are typically more expensive, and some models are larger and therefore more cumbersome to carry around.
The use of Web browsers on wireless devices can be problematic for a number of reasons. First, text entry by the user is typically arduous since these small devices generally do not have full keyboards and, instead, have small buttons. Second, the small screens of these devices also make it difficult to view information on web pages, especially pages containing ancillary information such as advertisements and banners. And third, navigating the Web using wireless devices is also time consuming and costly. Wireless connection for these devices is generally expensive, especially if the user is outside of his or her local calling area. The wireless connection is also typically slow compared to wired connections. These significant trade-offs and limitations are typically imposed on users desiring access to the Web from wireless devices.
Thus, techniques that allow users to access information from the World Wide Web from wireless devices with reduced efforts are highly desirable, especially in today""s mobile environment.
The invention addresses the shortcomings described above by allowing a user to use existing wireless devices to access information on the World Wide Web. In one aspect, text is extracted from a selected region of a selected web page and sent to a wireless device. This allows the user to skip over advertisements and other ancillary information and choose just enough information to fit in the small screens of many wireless devices. Moreover, most of these wireless devices can receive a selected text very quickly, so the user does not have to wait as long for the information and connection time is also shortened.
In an embodiment, information is transmitted to the wireless device based on a particular schedule, which can be defined by the user. The information can then be stored in the wireless device and becomes available whenever the user desires to view it. In this manner, the user does not need to use a keyboard on the device to obtain the information. Furthermore, the user does not need to expend the time and effort to set up an Internet connection and navigate to the selected web page each time the user desires information.
An embodiment of the invention provides a method for delivering information to a receiving device (e.g., an alpha-numeric pager or cellular telephone). In accordance with the method, information is received indicating a particular portion of a particular source (e.g., a web page) from which to retrieve selected information. A selected schedule is also received for delivering the selected information to the receiving device. At a scheduled time, information from the particular portion of the particular source is retrieved, extracted, and delivered to the receiving device. In this manner, the receiving device is able to receive updates of the contents of the selected information without the need for a Web browser and without the overhead associated with setting up a Web connection.